In Internet Protocol television (IPTV) and cable television (Cable TV) services, upon power-on of a set top box, a startup process of the set top box can actually be divided into two different stages. The first stage is self check and startup of the set top box hardware device, startup of an operating system, and network authentication, which generally take 10 to 15 seconds, and in this process, a television screen connected with the set top box is generally blank or displays a hardware check interface of the set top box. The second stage is that middleware of the set top box begins to start up after completion of the self check of the set top box hardware, the startup of the operating system, and the network authentication, where the loading and startup of the set top box middleware takes about 15 to 20 seconds.
Before the set top box is started up, a network operator generally presents a custom content to the user, for example, using the time to insert an advertisement so as to avoid boring waiting of a user, which enhances user experience and increases revenues of the network operator. At present, existing custom content presentation technologies are mostly implemented after the set top box middleware is loaded and started up, that is, after the self check of the set top box hardware device is complete, the operating system is started up, and the network authentication is successful. After the set top box middleware is loaded and started up, the middleware is used to present the custom content to the user. However, after the power-on of the set top box, the self check of the hardware, the startup of the operating system, and the network authentication, it is still necessary to start up the middleware. By then, a delay of about 30 seconds has already been incurred. That is to say, after the user powers on the set top box, the waiting time is generally at least about 30 seconds before the custom content begins to be presented. From the startup of the set top box to the end of custom content presentation (it generally takes 15 to 20 seconds to present the custom content), that is, from when the user powers on the set top box to when the user is able to watch a television program and select a channel, it generally takes about 50 seconds, which leads to a long waiting time of the user and deteriorates the user experience.